Employee Input Can Create Stronger, More Authentic, and More Profitable Brands

Posted by: Danielle Wipperfurth, Marketing Strategist Jun 23, 2010 2 Comments

Imagine: You are an employee of Company T, a fictional mid-size company located just north of Chicago. Having worked at Company T for eight years, you have come to know the company’s culture and customers well. One day while watching TV, you see a commercial for Company T. The Company T brand in the commercial seems nothing like the company you know. As it turns out, your employer has undergone a branding process and made the results public before telling you.

If you’re not shocked by this situation, it’s likely because excluding employees from branding is unfortunately the norm these days. Branding frequently occurs behind closed doors by company leaders and any number of external consultants. If employees are involved at all, it’s usually through internal branding practices, such as brand education and rewards for “on-brand behavior” that take place after a brand has been decided.

Communicating a new brand to employees before promoting it to external audiences helps employees feel connected to the company and has been shown to improve work performance. Taking it one step further, involving employees in the branding process from the beginning tends to yield even stronger, more authentic, and more profitable brands.

By seeking input from employees during the branding process, executives can:
1) Gain a more comprehensive understanding of the company. Employees provide insight into how customers experience the company at every single touchpoint.
2) Benefit from a workforce that is more loyal to and motivated to express the brand. Even if employees do not see their ideas fully manifested in the brand that is ultimately developed, they are more likely to adopt that brand because someone asked their opinion in the first place.

Zappos is a great example of how employee involvement in the branding process can build better brands. In the beginning stages of the company, Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh asked each employee to write a few paragraphs about what Zappos meant to them. Employees’ submissions offered unique insight into the value Zappos provides. In line with his belief that “your culture is your brand,” Hsieh used these submissions to help shape the Zappos brand. Today, Zappos not only boasts a “fiercely loyal” workforce, it has also been ranked as one of the world’s best global brands.

Companies of all sizes and with all levels of resources can benefit from employee involvement in the branding process. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups are all examples of ways our team gathers input from our clients’ employees for branding initiatives. Regardless of the specific methods used, employee involvement should occur early in the branding process, and be viewed as an asset rather than as an afterthought.

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Danielle Wipperfurth

Marketing Strategist

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